Harvard, Radcliffe Crews Stay Perfect on Day 2 at Henley

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England—Harvard and Radcliffe will send five crews to the third day of the Henley Royal Regatta after three boats won for the second straight day and the Radcliffe heavyweight varsity eight opened with a victory Thursday on the Thames River.

With a strong headwind and warm temperatures creating challenging conditions, the Black and White moved on to the quarterfinals of the Remenham Challenge Cup, while the Crimson heavyweight four reached the semifinals of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup and two Harvard crews made the Temple Challenge Cup quarterfinals. Sophomore Andrew Campbell, racing for the Cambridge Boat Club, started off with a win in the Diamond Challenge Sculls.

"We're excited to keep racing," said Radcliffe head coach Liz O'Leary. "It's always good to get past the first day, and the great thing is that all the Harvard and Radcliffe boats raced really well and have won all their races so far."

Radcliffe started out with a familiar opponent, the Thames Rowing Club and Henley Rowing Club entry that the Black and White had defeated in the Henley Women's Regatta. Radcliffe led throughout and won by 2.5 lengths in a time of 8:00. The victory set up a matchup with Hollandia Roeiclub, a crew of members of the Dutch under-23 team.

The Harvard lightweight varsity eight moved on with a three-length win against Southampton University. The crews were even for the first minute or so before the Crimson asserted itself over the middle of the course and went on to win in 7:23. Harvard will race Durham University in Friday's quarterfinal round.

"Durham has good size and a lot of skill, so we're expecting a hard race, a full-course effort," said Charley Butt, the Friends of Harvard Lightweight Rowing Coach for Lightweight Crew.

The Crimson freshman eight also advanced in the Temple Cup event, defeating Newcastle University by 1.5 lengths and finishing in 7:26. The Crimson trailed at the first split, the Barrier, but took the lead by the Fawley split and will face Washington, the U.S. freshman national champion, in Friday's quarters.

In the Prince Albert Cup, Harvard moved within two races of successfully defending its title. The Crimson won easily for the second straight day, this time against the University of Birmingham. Harvard's time of 8:01 was the second-fastest of the four winners in Thursday's racing. The Crimson has a day off from racing before taking on University of London A.

"The freshmen did a good job today of staying composed and sticking to their race plan when their opponent went out really hard," said heavyweight associate head coach Bill Manning. "The four had another strong race to move on to the final four."

In addition to the Remenham, Temple and Diamond events that continue Friday, the Ladies' Challenge Plate gets underway with Harvard meeting the combined entry from Sport Imperial Boat Club and Leander Club.

Chris Kingston '11, who coxed last year's Harvard varsity, steered Star Club to a second straight victory in the Britannia Challenge Cup Thursday. Steffen Buschbacher '00 and Justin Webb '04 raced in the Christ Church, Oxford and 1829 Boat Club entry in the Visitors' Challenge Cup, falling to Taurus Boat Club.

Several former Harvard oarsmen are also at Henley, coaching U.S. high school crews. Paul Hamm '07 is coaching Gonzaga College High School, Jeff Toto '03 is leading Boston College High, Chris Richards '85 is coaching the Belmont Hill School squad, and former Crimson lightweights Tyler Caldwell '11 and Albert Leger '84 are coaching Phillips Exeter Academy.